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Robb Design Portfolio: Time to Waist

If two wrists cannot satisfy your urge to flaunt complicated mechanical accessories, you can now enlist your waistline. The Calibre 8 collection from Geneva’s the House of Eight applies fine watchmaking principles—and the Swiss mania for precision—to the belt buckle. A complex, patented system of plates, roller bearings, and levers grips and pulls the strap to precisely 35 millimeters of slackness, as tailors recommend. A range of styles (priced from $22,500 to $94,000), each produced in a limited series of 88 pieces, combines precious metals with pavé diamonds and inlays of mother-of-pearl or exotic hardwoods.

Each serial-numbered buckle is assembled, engraved, and finished by hand in Geneva and, naturally, comes with a certificate of origin and authenticity. Some may question the wisdom of constructing a device with more than 100 components to perform the same function previously served by a few. Remember, however, that for the Swiss, making things complicated is a national pastime.